


A Helping Hand

by blossomofsnow65



Category: The X-Files
Genre: College Mulder and Scully, F/M, pride and prejudice - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-06-29 23:30:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19840789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blossomofsnow65/pseuds/blossomofsnow65
Summary: Scully needs help with an assignment and Mulder offers to help. AU, college Mulder and Scully.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> No beta, so sorry for spelling/grammar mistakes!

In all of her years as a student, Dana Scully has never had a problem when it came to studying. Unlike her friends, she enjoyed getting lost in countless books: geography, history, literature, biology. She’d spend most of her lunch breaks in the library’s silent room cubicle getting ahead of her classes syllabus, and, more often than not, she’d hear someone yelling “nerd!” at her, or a slip of paper with the word “loser” would slide off her locker.

But she didn’t care. She laughed at it, actually. Because every time there was an assignment, everyone wanted to work with Dana Katherine Scully: it was a guaranteed A. At first she fell for it, thinking that by working with her classmates they would become her friends, and all the name calling would end. Alas, eventually she learned her lesson; now, she’d laugh off the others pleas. She shrugged them off, kept busy by studying and showed them how hard work payed off by graduating with honours and getting accepted into every University she applied to. 

On her first day of Orientation, she was told she had to take an elective class. Out of the endless biology classes she could take to complement her future as a medical doctor, she decided to take an English class. And it was there where she met Fox Mulder. 

The tall, handsome 21-year-old sat next to her and offered sharing his copy of _Pride and Prejudice_ she had left in her dorm. She thanked him, saying that she overslept and left in a hurry. He chastised playfully by telling her that she should prepare her bag the night before, to which he was rewarded with a smile. Something about him made her feel comfortable and as if she could trust him, so by the end of the class they already had private jokes and had nudged each other’s shoulders a few times. 

A couple of weeks in, their English professor told them they had to hand in an essay about one of the books in the syllabus. _Moby Dick_ , her all-time favourite book, was her first choice, but she decided to go for _Pride and Prejudice_ , thinking that she could take the challenge in writing about a romance novel. 

Now, the day before the deadline, she found herself staring at her notebook. Her elbows were resting on the desk and her hands were holding her head in frustration, trying to find the words that wouldn’t come. 

A knock on the door startled her, but she didn’t bother moving. “What?” She asked in a monotone voice. 

“Hey, Scully. These guys are having a party downstairs and it’s getting out of control, I say we— wait, why are you wearing your robe at 7pm? What are you, 50?” Mulder entered her room and asked amusingly, arching an eyebrow. 

“Mulder, need I remind you that we have a deadline tomorrow?” She said, her eyes attached to the white piece of paper. 

Mulder pursed his lips and put his hands in his back pockets. He walked towards Scully and lowered himself to her level, placing his hand on her arm. Gestures like these made people think that they were together. Mulder laughed - and secretly wished it was true -; Scully blushed.

“No, you don’t have to remind me. I finished mine yesterday. Sweetie, what’s wrong?” He asked, soothingly. 

Scully sniffed and a tear fell on her notebook. “The freaking Anatomy project sucked the life out of me and now I can’t write this stupid paper! I have never had a problem with a deadline, Mulder. Never! Least of all with English. But I’ve been staring at this notebook for the past two days and nothing comes out!” She threw her arms in the air and got up of her seat, pacing back and forth, wiping her nose with the sleeves of her red robe. Mulder chuckled. “‘Snot funny, Mulder!” 

“I know, I’m sorry.” He apologised as he stood up. “I just can’t believe the Great Mind of Dana Katherine Scully can’t write an essay about ‘women and money in _Pride and Prejudice’_. Your neurons must be fried.” Scully stood in place with her head down, crying as her shoulders moved up and down. Mulder walked up to her and removed her glasses, making her look at him.

“I can help you, Scully. You know that. Why didn’t you ask me?” 

“Because I can do these things myself! I had to learn how to make things for myself since school when the only time people noticed me was when they wanted to work with me on an assignment.” She confessed. 

“Well, I notice you, Scully. And not just because I want to work with you on an assignment. But because you are you. Because you are my best friend. Doesn’t that give me a chance to help you?” Mulder said, staring at her with his puppy eyes that made her weak and want to kiss him. 

“I guess so,” she shrugged. 

Mulder smiled and placed a kiss on her forehead that lasted longer than a forehead kiss should. He smelled delicious and she took his scent in, trying to implant it in her brain and praying she’d never forget it. When he looked at her again, they were both smiling. 

“Okay! So, _Pride and Prejudice_. Women and money. You could write about Mrs. Bennet and how she wants her daughters to marry wealthy men; Elizabeth who doesn’t want to get married for money, but for love; or Lady de Bourgh who doesn’t approve of Elizabeth’s and Mr. Darcy’s relationship because she isn’t wealthy. What do you think?” Mulder proposed sitting down. 

Scully was amused. She knew Mulder had scoffed at the novel, saying that he wasn’t one for romance novels - something they shared -, but never in a million years did she think that he’d know the novel so well. In fact, he had told her he hadn’t read the book. 

“Um, Mulder?” 

“Yeah?” He replied while jolting something on the notebook. 

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you tell me that you hadn’t read the book?” She taunted while slowly walking towards him and placing her hands on his shoulders. 

Mulder was taken aback. He had in fact told her that. For some reason he felt ashamed about thoroughly enjoying the book and feeling happy when Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy got together. It was his turn to be at a loss for words, which was completely odd. Mulder always had something to say. 

“Psh, I just read some information somewhere before deciding which book I was going to write about.” He dismissed as he waved his hand nonchalantly and got back to business.

“Whatever you say, Mulder,” Scully followed his lie and sat next to him.

A few beats of silence followed as Mulder wrote intensely, the pen meeting the paper with such force that Scully was pretty sure the ink would go through to the next page. Suddenly, Mulder cleared his throat and announced, “So, I started writing something for you, some ideas as to where to go to next on each paragraph. Do you have any extra thoughts?” He questioned, looking deep into her eyes and tucking a strand of her red hair behind her ear. Electricity ran through Scully’s face, but she didn’t jump back. She embraced the feeling, because nobody had ever made her feel the way Mulder did: accepted and loved for who she was.

“Yeah. Why did I choose _Pride and Prejudice_.”

Mulder laughed and turned back to the assignment. “Because you love a challenge, Scully.”

 _Or because it reminds me of when I fell in love with you._ She thought. Pushing her thoughts aside, Scully nodded. “Touché. I’m sorry you missed your party, Mulder.” She confessed, her voice filled with sadness.

“Nah, don’t be. I’d much rather hang out with you being your helping hand than being with some drunk sorority chicks.” He smiled.

Scully stood up and started pacing back and forth, deep in thought. All those words that had refused to appear had started to overcome her mind. She rambled on and on and on all night, making sure that the assignment was good enough to hand in. Mulder mocked her by telling her that sometimes, on random occasions, she even talked as if she were writing an essay without even noticing. She slapped him playfully and he gasped in response, faking he was in pain.

Next week, when Scully receives her paper and sees a big 100% written in red, she would thank Mulder. She would thank him the way he deserved to be thanked. The way she has wanted to ever since he lent her that copy of _Pride and Prejudice_ the very first day of class.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be just one chapter, but people have been asking for another one so here you go!
> 
> No beta, so sorry for spelling/grammar mistakes!

Everything changed since the day Dana Katherine Scully got her first 100% with the assistance of a friend. But not a friend who just wanted her grade. No. This was a friend who had offered to help her even though he didn’t have to; not to mention that she had to do the work by herself instead of in teams, but she dismissed that detail.

The English Professor had started calling the student’s names one by one to receive their grade, and rumour has it that she gave the grades from worst to best. And she was the third name she called. Her heart started to beat at an alarming rate, faster than arrythmia. It almost felt as if she was going to throw up. Mulder felt her tense beside him and he grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. With fear in her eyes, she smiled at him and made her way towards the Professor’s desk.

The paper was handed with the grade facing down. She held it against her chest and took deep breaths, Mulder looking at her intently and offering encouraging nods. As soon as she saw that three digit number, her legs went numb and she felt a huge sense of amazement wash over her. Mulder had seen her eyes go wide and he knew it was a good sign, because a) Dana Katherine Scully never got low grades, and b) he knew her like the back of his hand.

Scully ran to him with the paper stretched out in front of her, and shoved it in his face when she got to her seat. Mulder was beaming, saying that he was so proud of her and knew she was going to do well, while Scully interrupted him by thanking him over and over again.

That night, they went out to celebrate. At first they thought it was silly celebrating getting a good grade on a simple assignment, but at the end of the day, they just needed an excuse to be together.

They went for a drink which shortly turned into way too many drinks than Scully’s body could handle. Mulder found it adorable they way drunk Scully played pool. She would crush him when sober, winning every single time. But drunk Scully couldn’t care less and would most of the time play with the stick or with the balls, throwing them in the air and catching them. At one point she stood on the pool table and started to dance, but Mulder, ever the gentleman, decided that she had had enough to drink and should go back to her dorm.

Walking back to their dorms, they talked, and talked, and talked. Scully giggled like a little girl at everything and Mulder followed her, enjoying the lovely sound that escaped her lips. He could hear her laugh for hours and he still wouldn’t feel annoyed. He loved her laugh.

The sprinklers had gone off and Scully ran towards them, soaking her white shirt and tight black jeans ensemble. Her shoes, which had been off her feet for a long time, were forgotten in the middle of the grass. She squealed, and jumped, and ran, and hopped, and spun with her arms wide open, welcoming the cool water, even though it was freezing. Mulder joined her and she bumped into him. He held her close and began swaying back and forth, dancing in the middle of the field.

When they reached her dorm, they had sobered up enough to know that they were not going to regret what had happened next. As they dried off with Scully’s fluffy towels – Mulder’s were always stiff -, they gazed deep into each other’s eyes and kissed. At first, it was a soft kiss that was overdue. Shortly after, it became passionate and intense, and she led them to her bed, taking their clothes off in the process.

They woke up with the morning sun coming through the window, warming their naked bodies. He feared Scully didn’t remember what had happened, or worse, that she had regretted it. But the smile on her face and the kiss she gave him squashed his fears.

Xxxxx

Two years went by and they were still together and going strong. Scully was focused on her medicine studies, Mulder was taking psychology classes and other elective courses. One day, he entered Scully’s room as she set a tray with different dishes containing different materials for a DNA mock-up she had to hand in.

“Hey, Scully. Remember Professor Stanley?” He said after greeting her with a kiss.

“From the English course? Yeah, I do. What about her?” She sat down and took the dishes one by one out of the tray, placing them carefully on top of her desk.

“Well, she told me there’s this English competition taking place at the end of the semester and the prize is – wait for it –,“ he made a drum roll noise with his hands on his thighs, “ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS.” Mulder enunciated the prize in exaggeration and disbelief. “The only thing you have to do is submit an essay and that’s it! If your paper wins then you get the big bucks. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.” He informed.

Scully sighed and heard rustling from a paper. She turned around and Mulder handed a piece of paper which she took with hesitance. He sat down on her bed with a twinkle in his eyes.

“ _Modern Society and Literature_ competition. Prize is $1000’,” she read out loud. “Are you going to submit an essay, Mulder? Need my help choosing a subject?”

“Nope. You are going to write an essay, and you are going to win.” Mulder smiled. Scully looked at him wide eyed and with her mouth wide open. “Don’t look at me with that face, Scully. Stanley wouldn’t’ve given me this to hand it to you if she didn’t think you could do it. You got 100% in every single assignment of hers. No one has ever gotten such high grades with her, let alone the top grade.” He encouraged.

Scully turned back to her mock-up and retouched the DNA structure she had already done. “Mulder, no. That was two years ago and I took that class as an elective. I’m not interested in it, sorry.” She shrugged and reached for a blue ball and the hot glue.

Mulder sat up and slouched. “But, Scully. One. Thousand. Dollars. You can do so much stuff with one thousand dollarinos. We can go on a nice trip, we’ve been wanting to for a long time.” He whined and pouted.

Scully clicked her tongue and turned to him again. “I don’t know Mulder. I don’t even know what to write about, and it’s been so long since I’ve written anything related to literature.” Mulder turned his hands into a begging position and exaggerated his pout. “What would I even write about?”

“It’s not limited to English students, Scully. I’ll help you. It’ll be like that night when the whole _Pride and Prejudice_ crisis took place,” he teased and wiggled his eyebrows.

She sighed in defeat and smiled, “A trip does sound nice.”

Mulder jumped from the bed and hugged her, taking her by surprise. The sudden impact from his embrace made her lie back a little, almost knocking off the DNA structure.

“I’ll do it, but only if you don’t break my mock-up. It took me ages to make the DNA structure stand by itself. And you have to help me.”

“Deal. I’ll be your helping hand.” He stated with determination, standing straight and expanding his chest.

“Aren’t you always?” Scully mumbled and shook her head, returning to her previous task.

Xxxxx

Weeks went by and, after handing in the DNA mock-up, Scully focused on the paper. As promised, Mulder helped her with research, proof-reading it ten billion times, consoling her when her nerves took over her and she cried from frustration. He calmed her whenever she said that she wasn’t going to win or she wasn’t good enough, that it had been useless signing up in the first place. He’d remind her that their Professor recommended her for some reason, not because she thought she would be too much of a chicken to do it.

The deadline arrived and she sent her essay with confidence. The winner wouldn’t be announced until the next month, so she pretended to not be thinking about it. Whenever Mulder brought it up, she would say that she had forgot that the winner would be announced the following week, when in reality, she thought she wasn’t going to be able to wait any longer.

Scully woke up a Friday morning with a sleeping Mulder hugging her and to the annoying shrill of the telephone. Lazily, she walked towards her desk and answered it.

“Hello?” She asked, her voice still laced with sleep.

A cheering lady answered back. “Hi! Is this Dana Scully I’m speaking to?”

Scully looked at the clock next to her and saw that it was 7am. Why would someone be so cheerful at this time of the morning? Had it not been for this call, she would’ve slept for one more hour before the alarm went off. “Yes. Who am I speaking with?”

“Oh, this is Mary Hall from the _Modern Society and Literature_ competition.” Scully’s heart dropped. Unbelievably for her, she had forgotten that today they were announcing the winners. She just didn’t think they would announce them this early in morning. Yet again, she wasn’t that sure they were calling to say she had won. Maybe they were calling to say she _hadn’t_ won.

_Yes, hello? Dana Scully? We just wanted to let you know that your paper sucked and we decided to go with someone who had a more interesting topic than yours and who was less controversial._

“Hello? Are you still there?” The lady asked. Scully heard a tapping noise, surely coming from Mary who was tapping her phone.

“Y-yes. Sorry. You were saying?” Scully asked cautiously, playing with the chord of the phone by wrapping it around her index finger and biting her lip.

“I just wanted to let you know that we’ve chosen your paper as the winner. We loved your thoughts and we would love for you to read some of it at the official award giving ceremony on the 30th of this month. Congratulations!”

“Yes, thank you!” Scully dropped the phone and ran to Mulder, waking him up and jumping on the bed, squealing.

“ _’Modern Society: Comparing Literature to New Technologies_ ’.” Scully read the title out loud from the podium at the front of the auditorium.

“The other day, I was telling the story of _Hansel and Gretel_ to my godson. To entertain him, I would switch voices depending on the character and in the change of plot. When I reached the part where they get lost in the forest he says to me: ‘but, can’t they telephone their dad?’” The audience laughed and Scully smiled at the response.

“My mind started spinning. Never in a million years did I think that I was going to receive that kind of response from a five-year-old. And that is when I thought how much the great works of literature, in fact, literature in general, would have changed if the telephone had existed. Think about _Snow White_ , _Three Little Pigs_. Now give them a telephone. Would the plot have the same effect if they could call someone? Would the plot have the same effect it does as we know it? No.

“Penelope doesn’t wait worried and with uncertainty for Ulysses to come back from battle. The little piggy from the house made of sticks is told by his brothers that the wolf is coming. Geppetto receives a call from the school that Pinocchio had failed to attend class.

“A great percentage of the great works of literature have as the main source of conflict failed meetings, distance, and lack of communication. English classics exist because of the lack of new technologies. There would not be one love story that would be complicated or tragic if the lovers had a telephone.

“The classic romance novel of all times is _Romeo and Juliet_. Juliet pretends to be dead, Romeo commits suicide, Juliet wakes up and sees Romeo dead, so she commits suicide. Would it had had the same effect if both characters had access to a telephone? ‘Hello. I’m calling you just to let you know that I’ll be playing dead. Kisses, see you in Verona.” The audience laughs and Scully manages to peek at Mulder wearing a huge grin on his face.

“All these movies where a boy runs through the airport to tell the girl not to leave, that doesn’t exist anymore – if it ever did. Nowadays, you just sit on your couch and call her.

“And this is where I ask myself: is this happening to us in real life? Are we depriving ourselves from novel-like adventures because we’re sitting on our sofas, talking to our friends on the phone? Will some of us run to the airport and tell our significant other to stay with us, that our life starts here and now? I don’t think so. Why live in the brink of adventure when you can solve your problems by the phone? The apple is poisoned, the elf is going to kill you, the wolf will blow your house away, if you kiss the girl she will fall in love with you, daddy come get us cause the birds ate our trail.

“Our stories are losing its own, personal glow. Every single one of them. Written stories, lived stories, even our own imaginary stories. Why? Because I believe we are turning into lazy heroes.” Scully finished.

“Thank you.” The audience roared in applause and gave her a standing ovation. Her cheeks blushed, her face felt hot as if the strength she had gathered to read her essay – she was asked to read it all instead of a few paragraphs -, suddenly went away. Mulder stood clapping like he had first learned how to clap, his hands meeting each other very fast and very intense. She was sure his hands would be red at the end of the day. Pride was written all over his face and a tear streamed down his face.

People from the committee approached her, shaking her hand and congratulating her. They told her that they had never thought about literature in that way, and that they praised her for her point of view. She smiled and thanked them for the honour.

Her family came up to the podium and hugged her. Her father, a serious man, couldn’t help the pride, and Scully saw his cheeks were damp. Her mother was full on crying, and her siblings couldn’t stop smiling.

Once they left, Mulder went to her. “Wow, honey. That was amazing. I didn’t know you had made a few changes to it.”

“Yeah, well, I wanted to surprise you a little bit when I read it,” she smiled and wiggled her eyebrows. Mulder kissed her, hugging her by the waist with one arm. They got lost in the moment and almost didn’t hear Professor Stanley clearing her throat.

“Dana, that was amazing. I knew you had it in you,” she said, holding a beige raincoat. “I always knew you were a natural writer. You should think about taking another course or something in its style.”

“Thank you, Professor Stanley, but I think I’ll stick to medicine,” Scully responded with a wink.

“Well in that case, I’m glad that you sent the essay and won. Congratulations,” Stanley caressed her arm and left.

“Told you all that hard work would pay off,” beamed Mulder. “Speaking of paying off, where’s our a thousand bucks?”

Xxxxx

Instead of going out for drinks in celebration, they decided to go to a restaurant for dinner. They drank a little, mind you, but nothing that Scully’s system couldn’t handle.

Walking back to the dorms, the sprinklers went off again. Both of them laughed and Mulder eyed at her suspiciously.

“You’re not thinking about jumping there again, are you?”

“Hmm. I don’t know, Mulder.” Scully placed her index finger on her chin as if in thought and got closer to the sprinklers. Mulder stayed behind and laughed, thinking that there was no way he could love her more.

Suddenly, a splash of water hit Scully in the stomach and she yelped. “Nope, it’s too cold.”

Mulder shook his head and chuckled, “Well, I’m glad. I didn’t want to go there and rescue you again.”

Scully quirked an eyebrow. “When have you ever rescued me from the sprinklers?”

“Come on, Scully. Two years ago? After you got super drunk you almost took your close off on the pool table at the pub? When we did the nasty for the first time?” He pleaded as he took his coat off and put it on her. Mulder’s voice became desperate, trying to figure out new ways to make Scully remember of the best night of his life.

Scully started to laugh and hugged Mulder’s coat. “I know, I’m teasing you. I just like hearing you say ‘do the nasty’”.

They started walking again with Mulder hugging her by the shoulders and running his hand up and down her arm as Scully leaned on him. “So what are you going to do with the money?”

“I don’t know. We could go on a trip during Christmas break, how does that sound?” Scully asked.

They reached the dorms building and walked up the steps leading towards the main door. “Maybe. Or we could save it for our honeymoon.” Mulder suggested.

Scully reached inside her purse for her keys. “Honeymoon? Mulder we’re not even married.” She said while opening the door. When she heard no answer from Mulder she turned around and gasped at the sight of Mulder down on one knee holding an open box with a ring in it.

“What do you say, Scully. Will you marry me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tumblr: blossom-ofsnow
> 
> Essay inspired by an audio my mum showed me

**Author's Note:**

> I actually had to write an essay about women and money in Pride and Prejudice for a literature exam. All of the arguments Mulder suggested were the ones I used. 
> 
> tumblr: blossom-ofsnow


End file.
